iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Sunil

Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The bottom line? Academics have to contend with predatory journals, shoddy conferences, and now "deepfake prestige", as one of my sources called it. AI tools are only turbocharging this behavior and making it harder than ever to detect. Just as fast as one website goes down, another 10 can launch.

1438

Reposted by Sunil

Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

SCOOP: Top researchers at Columbia, Stanford, and others thought they were elected to elite scientific societies alongside Nobel laureates. The catch? The organizations are a sham. I spent the last month diving deep into a massive academic scam spanning continents, for @nature.com

nature.com

Exclusive: Sham scientific societies are misleading star researchers

A Nature investigation reveals a network of organizations that have been building their ranks through deceptive practices.

10309183

Reposted by Sunil

Katherine I @chesneycat.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

How does this align with UKRI's policy on applications and assessments? www.ukri.org/publications...

text available at https://www.ukri.org/publications/generative-artificial-intelligence-in-application-and-assessment-policy/use-of-generative-artificial-intelligence-in-application-preparation-and-assessment/

2351

Reposted by Sunil

David Sloan @davesmaths.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

That must hurt. The part where they talk about two different models as though it's supposed to be somehow reassuring is just an extra kick in the teeth: "We read both tea leaves AND entrails for robustness".

0624

Reposted by Sunil

Louise Platt @drluplatt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

“Grateful for the time and effort you put into your submission” …. But we didn’t give you the same time and effort in actually reading it 🤷‍♀️😩

11042

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I can’t help but think that this kind of use of AI for triage is really not a good look for UKRI (or anyone else).

251

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I’m no clinician but his sycophantic fawning over the authoritarian leaders suggests a deeply damaged individual. (To say nothing of being unbecoming of US values and diplomacy, demonstrating strategic weakness, and undermining US a world security) giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

giftarticle.ft.com

Pomp prevails over substance as Donald Trump hosts Xi Jinping

Fanfare masks some of the US president’s own troubles, including his war in Iran and plummeting domestic popularity

000

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Yikes “you better believe the other thing it's supposed to do aside from build a picture of your friends and loved ones is to figure out what makes you love to shop. This is actually some of the most nauseating prompt text i have ever read” neuromatch.social/@jonny/11732...

neuromatch.social

jonny (nonvenomous) (@jonny@neuromatch.social)

Attached: 4 images you better believe the other thing it's supposed to do aside from build a picture of your friends and loved ones is to figure out what makes you love to shop. This is actually some...

011

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Quelle surprise. Let’s just say anyone who cares about any kind of privacy will not be using this product or anything like it…

010

Reposted by Sunil

Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The major problem with this reporting - beyond its fundamental inaccuracy - is that when arrests are eventually made there will be no proper context and therefore it will seem like the state is smothering free expression.

11443105

Reposted by Sunil

Marianne Heaslip @marianneh.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

A reporter 'on the scene'. Seriously considering finding it on iplayer when I'm properly awake and lodging a formal complaint.

3292

Reposted by Sunil

Marianne Heaslip @marianneh.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

On the Today programme just now Patriot Platform were described as 'carpenters who go round building houses' and 'working class men'. I'd really like to know WTF is going on with BBC news.

119415

Reposted by Sunil

The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Just as well those committing wrongs against the RNLI are not holding placards supporting a proscribed organisation, else they would really be in trouble.

01240309

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

See also this FB post from Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat @ottoenglish.bsky.social - apparently the same group of lowlifes intimidating their crew on return from a shout assisting a vulnerable woman. www.facebook.com/share/1DSJzd...

facebook.com

000

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Good thread on the legal situation

030

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Deeply concerning, both for what had happened, and for what it says about us as a country

020

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Great thread thoroughly dismantling this chap’s rather misleading implication that because he’s made it, anyone else can.

101

Reposted by Sunil

Martin Price-Phillips @mpricephillips.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Great report and polling from @cyclinguk.bsky.social re: pluralistic ignorance - where someone supports a policy while believing their neighbours wouldn’t agree. Half support new cycle routes but believe only a third agree. Likewise for reducing speed limits. School streets greater (70% v 49%).

cyclinguk.org

The Route Forward

The people and places being transformed by cycling

12611

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Catching the Metro into central Newcastle from the coast. Asked which train to get by a lady who is dropping her daughter off at uni (service is a loop, so you can go either way around depending on where you’re going). Had a great chat about how friendly the North East is, all the things to do

030

Reposted by Sunil

Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The little-known 'the president doesn't like their coverage' exception to the First Amendment

48721

Reposted by Sunil

John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 18/09/2026

What on earth is happening?

This had become the new normal. RNLI crew members had been forced to take their permits off their cars after their tyres have been repeatedly slashed. Most of them have been pilloried at the school gates or turned away from local pubs. One man who worked in search and rescue had been beaten unconscious and hospitalised, recognised for TV interviews he had done.

23833131338

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Racism and xenophobia, underpinning widespread thuggery and intimidation, is what is happening. Unchallenged by political leaders. Those of us with darker than average skin, or “foreign sounding” names, have been experiencing and warning about the rise of such attitudes for a decade.

010

Reposted by Sunil

LukeBMTB @lukebmtb.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I'm tired of reading stories like this. Politicians see a need to do nothing, excused by 'listening to legitimate concerns', when they ought to stepping up with action and condemnation. www.theargus.co.uk/news/2655625...

theargus.co.uk

Sea shanty gig postponed after threats against RNLI volunteers

Selsey Shantymen postpone September 20 RNLI gig in West Sussex after online far-right threats against crews who rescued 120 Channel migrants, Sussex…

53513

Reposted by Sunil

Dr_Aust_PhD @draustphd.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Edinburgh isn't just a top-end Russell Gp 'big civic' Uni, w a famous history, snob value, & a 'town setting' highly attractive to big fee-paying o/seas students. It's also in the Scottish capital, w 'national flagship Uni of Scotland' vibes. If they are axing courses, only Oxbridge are safe.

1116

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Finally back at my partner’s parents, only 3.5 hours after the puncture…

010

Reposted by Sunil

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

... believed disinformation, it was somehow disrespectful not to give it equal billing with real information. Instead of redoubling efforts to educate, they decided it was easier to entertain. They pretend their job is to just take the pulse, because it's easier than trying to save the patient. END

2991879

Reposted by Sunil

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

... to spread panic by doing pieces based on the premise that "yes, most UK spiders are deadly" or "all clowns are, in fact, serial killers" or "don't call it a phobia; buttons are very frightening!" The BBC lost its reporting sea-legs with Brexit. It cracked into accepting that, if enough people...

659850

Reposted by Sunil

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

... mutually exclsusive? There is a name for being genuinely worried that foreign, dark-skinned people are dangerous. In fact, all phobias are genuinely felt. It's part of the challenge. But "genuine" does not equal "legitimate". And it just does not seem a great strategy for a state broadcaster...

469480

Reposted by Sunil

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

... attempt to report any of the facts around this. The underlying assumption that asylum seekers are disproportionately dangerous criminals was simply treated as fact. With even Victoria Derbyshire asserting "these people are genuinely worried; they are not far right". But are those two things...

955358

Reposted by Sunil

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

... that asserted the BBC's agnosticism on whether those things are real and people should be afraid of them. We are living The Age of Argumentum ad Populum, because nobody is prepared to say "you are wrong" to a large enough group. During this entire Piddington episode, I did not see a single...

355257

Reposted by Sunil

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I would love to ask a prominent BBC journalist to give me an example of an illegitimate concern. Is seems to me that it has become a question not of fact, logic, or ethics but of volume. If a big enough proportion of a village was anxious about Bigfoot or Chemtrails, BBC would cover it in a way...

791709563

Reposted by Sunil

Dr_Aust_PhD @draustphd.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Uni management are ****s. They go on courses to be taught how to do this s**t by consultants.

031

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Oh dear. On a day out with my partner’ family in Northumberland. I suggested swinging by Barter Books in Alnwick. Partner’s mother clipped the kerb while driving her husband’s car. Flat tire. We’re now awaiting recovery. Well, 3 of us are, in Barter Books. Her husband is w/car 30 min walk away

020

Reposted by Sunil

Emma Yeomans @yeomans.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The RNLI has said the abuse of volunteers in Portsmouth has forced it to close the lifeboat station there and stop operating since September 10. Nearby stations have been providing cover to the area instead. One of the UK's largest coastal cities without a lifeboat because of the far-right.

40901500

Reposted by Sunil

Transport for All @transportforall.org.uk · 17/09/2026

It's great to hear the new trains on TransPennine Express will deliver independent boarding for more passengers. We need step-free access to the platform and level boarding everywhere so disabled passengers can travel with ease and confidence, instead of having to wait for Passenger Assistance.

23610

Reposted by Sunil

Lee Savage @leesavage.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

This isn't just about migrents. They're using violence and the threat of violence to threaten whole communities and raise themselves above the law. They're no different to an organised criminal gang and they should be policed as auch

37016

Reposted by Sunil

Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The original reporting of what happened in Portsmouth was a joke. This is just a hate mob that has been whipped up who are now targeting the RNLI. Throw the book at them.

independent.co.uk

RNLI closes Portsmouth lifeboat station after huge anti-migrant protests

RNLI volunteers were branded ‘traitors’ after bringing migrants ashore

27556173

Reposted by Sunil

Gautam Kamath @gautamkamath.com · 16/09/2026

Nihar Shah did a heroic experiment for TMLR: he spent 20-25 hours over two weeks interviewing authors of seemingly low-quality submissions about their own papers. He confirmed what we all suspected: people submitting these papers have *no idea* what is going on in them.

5276109

Reposted by Sunil

Dr_Aust_PhD @draustphd.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

In the UK this is encapsulated in a famous quote from Max Perutz about directing the LMB in Cambridge, which produced most of the UK's biology Nobels. Paraphrasing 'Hire the best young people you can find, give them labs & resources & time, above all leave them in peace but provide A COFFEE ROOM'.

175

Reposted by Sunil

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 16/09/2026

Scientist here: It is widely known inside science that this—top-down imposition of a research agenda—leads to mostly rote, boring, non-innovative work. Building an institute to do discovery science is hard: you hire young people, put them together, hope synergies arise and ideas fall out.

9362145

Reposted by Sunil

Claire Cullingworth @ccullingworth.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This made me smile, attached to an ordinary cast iron drainpipe on a house in Durham. #TinyJoys

A cast iron drain pipe going down the side of a white-painted house. A crest of red feathers and a bright orange beak made from something solid have been attached around it. It looks remarkably like "Feathers McGraw", the evil criminal penguin from The Wrong Trousers.

231968411

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Ended up being pushing 3 hours. Today may be a struggle.

020

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Awake for an hour and a half in the middle of the night again. Sigh

020